So you've had your AC running for a while
and all of sudden you notice there's barely any air coming out what's going on go to the
air handle closet and look down and you see a bunch of ice on the line set Frozen about
96% of time this is a dirty air filter. 2% of time this is a dirty coil about 1% of time
this is a low refrigerant charge and I'll leave 1% to other so here I noticed this AC
sounded a little funny and saw there's ice on the unit so immediately I came and turn
the unit off and turn the fan on to on to let that melt a lot faster and will also cause
when the moisture is running down the evaporator it'll cause it to hug the evaporate a little
bit and run into the pan so it can make a lot of water and it can overflow the pan so
you want to put some towels down and monitor the situation to make sure it doesn't overflow
too much maybe use a wet-dry vacuum and vacuum it out if it looks like it's going to overflow
also I turned the breaker off for the air conditioner and the range cuz sometimes these
can be labeled wrong but anyway turn the air conditioner breaker off because I've seen
it happen with a unit got so Frozen that the contactor coil stays Frozen sucked in so I
just turned it off and I'm letting everything thaw out and then I'll reset it and I'll check
it check for a dirty coil I found this one was turned down to 65 degrees and so it has
been running like that all night so not good anyway I'll check it out and change the air
filter and clean the coil it's probably just a dirty air filter and that's why it froze
up but anyway that's the story there anyways now the air conditioner has a chance to dry
out and I didn't get a flat so that's good anyway again I pull the cover off and check
it out and see how the filter is hello yeah I'd say it was the filter alright anyway I'll
change it out with a new filter and AC will be back in business good to go okay so I went
and got my new filter got my coil cleaner and going to go to town on this puppy going
to go ahead and turn it over to Cooling because we want the coolant to run while we clean
the coil use the hold button and the reason is because the air conditioner removes moisture
from the air and that's how absorbent lot of the heat has a moisture runs down the drain
absorbs the moisture into the refrigerant cycles that to the condenser on the roof and
releases the heat outside as well and actually moves heat from the unit it's not so much
that it brings cool air in but it brings the hot out now the air conditioner runs at lower
speeds in the heater does then on some systems and it's more effective that removes heat
from the air in the lower speeds for air conditioning the lower speeds a little bit better now this
coils pretty old you can see some rest on the coil but just going to do the best that
I can to make him much better and have a good summer you can see the coil is Pretty Dirty
and the filter was pretty dirty the coil inside is probably pretty dirty as well shine some
light on it and it's pretty dirty right so what I have is that no rinse coil cleaner
and I'm also going to add condensate tablets to the drain to prevent a clogged as well
as to treat the drain with anti-rust anti-mold anticoagulant which helps prevent the dirt
from clumping up so here's the condensate tablets just going to add those to the drain
I'm going to add a couple of Top Gear again as the evaporator runs and the moisture runs
down there it's going to mix with the tablets and will release a little bit at a time into
the drain and help keep everything going now for the coil cleaner I've just got in a pump
sprayer here so just going to Pump It Up and real simply just spray on the coil cleaner
this is a no rinse coil cleaner it rinses with the condensation and runs down the drain
now it's important to keep the unit running for about 20 minutes after using this stuff
now if you know about soap and the way soap works it's hydrophobic that means it's afraid
of water and it tries to get away from water and the way it does.
Is it starts digging
under the dirt And tries to get away from the water so the way it does that is digging
under the dirt so it acts as a catalyst to release the dirt in the dirt the water can
help carry the Dirt away and that's why the no rinse coil cleaner can work now for a quail
this dirty it's probably not all going to come off in one application it's going to
take a a few rounds probably to treat this well and they get it clean so it's definitely
going to take some time to really do it right but it is what it is and we're here also spray
some coil cleaner on the back side Minnesota says coil up top for the hydraulic oil a bit
trickier going to turn it off and spray that one so do that and now I need to wait 5 minutes
for the pressures to equalize before I turn it back on but this will allow me to spray
it really good and spray the coil up top as well the hydronic heater coil if you want to have a better summer it's a good
idea to try to get things clean and clear and you want to avoid the tip touching any
of the coils because it's very easy to bend the fins and we don't want the bend any of
the fins anyway got the coil cleaner spray down there and getting spray this one some
more down here and then will close everything up I'll put the filter in and we'll go ahead
and run it but you get the idea here sometimes the soap here is enough to watch
for a small leak to see if you had a small leak on the coil it would show up and sprayed
in the pan here too and getting everything clear and then we're going to add a new filter
now there's definitely lots of choices and filters out there this particular filter is
perfect for this type of environment if you're going to change your filter every month then
the heavier-duty pleated filters might be good because they start right away filtering
there the problem is they're so good at filtration that after a month you have major air restriction
so if you're not going to change your filter every month if you're only going to change
it about every 3 months this is probably the better filter to go with the reason is this
filter starts off not filtering as good but then little by little as that collects der
it actually starts to filter better and better and you really won't have a restriction as
much till about 3 months so these work good for changing every 3 months and you have to
choose your approach based on how are you going to handle the maintenance of your air
conditioning system you know if your it's your own home it's a lot easier to change
every month but if you have allergies you may want to use which called a HEPA filter
it filters out smaller Micron sizes and so people with asthma and stuff like that then
they want to consider that but it's a much more expensive filter probably about 25 bucks
I filter and you really need to change it every 30 days otherwise it's going to cause
air restriction and then you have an iced up coil and so again you have to take the
best approach for your situation and for most people I filter like this changing every 30
days or 90 days is going to be best I said 30 days there but I meant 90 days and good
idea to check your smoke alarm at the same time make sure everything's good but just
a little preventative maintenance to keep everything good and keep everything safe sometimes
this soapy is enough to watch for a small leak to see if you had a small leak on the
coil it would show up and sprayed in the pan here to and getting everything clear and then
we can add a new filter mothers definitely lots of choices in filters out there this
particular filter is perfect for this type of environment if you're going to change your
filter every month then the heavier duty pleated filters might be good because they start right
away filtering there the problem is there so good at filtration that after a month you
have major air restriction so if you're not going to change your filter every month if
you're only going to change it about every 3 months this is probably the better filter
to go with the reason is this filter starts off not filtering as good but then little
by little This type of air filter starts to filter out better and better and you really
don't have a restriction as much so it works better for every 3 months so you have to kind
of choose your approach based on how often you change it so you know if it's your own
home it's easier to change it every month if you have allergies you may want to use
what's called a HEPA filter it's a high efficiency particle arrestor holds back smaller particle
sizes so people with asthma and stuff like that they may want to consider that but it's
a much more expensive filter probably about 25 bucks a filter and you really need to change
it every 30 days otherwise it's going to cause air restriction and then you can have a nice
step coil and so again you have to take the best approach for your situation and for most
people I filter like this changing it every 30 days I said 30 days but I meant 90 days
it was good idea to check your smoke alarm at the same time to make sure everything's
good just a little preventative maintenance to keep everything good and keep everything
safe so now I'm going to turn this on and on and make sure I keep it running for about
20 minutes and that's going to clear it up and for something as dirty as this one you
may need to go a few times you know a couple more treatments of the Enviro coil cleaner
this is an environmentally friendly no rinse coil cleaner it's one of my favorite coil
cleaners because it does the job and it won't hurt your plants and stuff like that in your
yard if your conversation Runs Out to the yard anyway thanks for watching Kung Fu maintenance
hope that helps you guys safe stay safe out there and help your repair Jobs go nice and
easy hope you can get to the preventive maintenance that you need to do so that you have a really
nice summer with none of those night experiences we have no AC cuz that's enough fun nice to
keep it nice and chilly nice and comfortable how you like it if you like it chilly anyway
that's how I like it air nice and clean and things working like this should thanks for
watching Kung Fu Maintenance over and out I'll just turn it on here back on cool drop
it down hit my hold button and good to go keep it running for about 20 minutes and I'll
probably give it another 2 or 3 sprays just to keep it all going good and I just remembered
I forgot to turn the breakers back on hear the condenser on the roof kick on I forgot
to turn the breakers on after I turn them off last time in case the contact you got
stuck because the coil was frozen anyway I can run the coil cleaner away feeling starting
to get cold as the refrigerant cycles through yep that will clean it up